Friday, September 11, 2009

Madame Transparency, Suicides on the roise, Tareen Resignation, Jinnah not governed by Hindu law —Liaquat Merchant

The benign practice of doing things by the book remains alive and well. Prime Minister Gilani's respected wife, Madam Fouzia Gilani (widely admired for her grace and charm), along with some business partners of hers took two loans from the Agricultural Bank --71 million and 100 million -- way back in the 1980s. As, quite correctly and entirely in keeping with the prevailing norm, they paid back not a penny of those loans; they had cases for recovery filed against them. Now, Allah be praised, we stand informed that matters have been settled between Madam Gilani and the Agri Bank and the cases have been withdrawn. Prime Minister Gilani is all for transparent government. Things can hardly get more transparent than this. Ayaz Amir

There is urgent need for the civil society sector to mobilise the public to pressure the government to provide Pakistani children access to proper education. An educated population is in everyone's interest. Since the government is not moving on this issue on its own account, the public has to force it to move in that direction. A sustained lawyers' movement got the executive to listen to the judiciary, why should a sustained public movement asking for Education for All, not have similar success? Masooda Bano

KarachiAccording to a study conducted by the Aga Khan University (AKU), the number of suicides is steadily rising in Pakistan, with an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 incidents per year.Almost 34 per cent of the population, mostly under 30 years of age, suffers from common mental disorders ... Suicides on the rise in Pakistan

A highly reliable source close to Tarin revealed the finance minister had given an “extremely forceful and fact-based representation against the rental power scheme and had also warned of a ‘huge financial setback’, but all his pleas were ultimately ignored by the prime minister and a bevy of five extremely powerful ministers.” Two key ministers had impressed upon the meeting that in the event of load-shedding, not ending by December this year, the situation could even end in the ouster of the government, the source said.The source went on to add after the meeting an extremely disappointed Shaukat Tarin seriously considered resigning his office, as he did not want to be seen as being a part of this controversial decision of the cabinet which, he genuinely believed, would put a crippling burden on the poor masses.Tarin was said to have withheld his resignation only after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani conceded to some of his important demands after the cabinet meeting, including involvement of the Asian Development Bank to conduct the audit of these projects, and most importantly, to determine the thorny issue of transparency in the award of contracts issued for the installation of these rental projects. Rauf Klasra

Jinnah not governed by Hindu law —Liaquat MerchantThe proposition that Jinnah was government by Shia law because he was born a Khoja, who were governed by Shia law in India, or that his property is governed under Hindu law is a fallacy; and there is an abundance of documents and record which establishes otherwise